


There's Just One Thing Missing

by thegrounders



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Photography, Road Trip, Snow, photographer!clarke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:26:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5434766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegrounders/pseuds/thegrounders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke is a photographer who has set out on a mission to take the perfect photograph. Not only does she do just that, but she gains something else along the way.</p><p>// the time when clarke finds bellamy outside in the snow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's Just One Thing Missing

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was written for [raincityruckus,](http://raincityruckus.tumblr.com/) i really hope you like it and have a wonderful christmas!! <3

With her camera, tripod, a lens hood, filters, two batteries, three memory cards, and a whole bunch of different lenses all packed into the boot of the black jeep—Clarke was _finally_ ready to go. She was sitting at the wheel with her hands tapping out a beat as she went over the checklist again mentally in her head. _Okay_ , she thought, _I think I have everything_.

If not, it was too late to turn back now.

She had a long drive ahead of her, and in the snow it wouldn’t be the easiest trip she’d ever been on, so she would have to be quick to make up for lost time. The sun was still high in the sky as large flakes began to fall all around the jeep, covering the ground in a shining pure white blanket.

She was wearing her thermal waterproofs as the forecast had predicted even more snow where she was headed. She hated wearing them, the fabric acting as a heavy weight on top of her delicate skin. Although, they did keep her warm. Her waterproof jacket was slung over the back of the seat while her festive Christmas hat lay idly on the passenger seat. Her favourite polka dot sunglasses hid her soft blue eyes as she tried not to be blinded by the sun peaking through the clouds of snow—and yes, it was winter, but it was either that or crash into railing at the side of the road. She opted for the sunglasses.

After a while, all that could be seen surrounding the car was white. The small roads were difficult to drive down as an icy spell covered the way forward, but Clarke was a natural, having done this many times before during the summer months. Few cars past here and there, but for the most part it was quiet. Her radio had to be turned off and swapped with some of her own mixtape’s as she began to lose signal.

Her head was bobbing up and down to the music of _“Life is a Highway”_ as a smile appeared bright on her face. She loved going on road trips alone, just the music and the road ahead. Clarke felt the same way that an athlete feels about sports or a singer feels about music; it was her escape. Maybe it was the pine cone scented air fresher, but suddenly her senses were heightened. She could feel every strum of the guitar vibrating through the car stereo as it made it’s way from her fingertips to her coursing veins. Her heart began beating along to the same tune as she tapped her other foot that wasn’t currently occupied by the accelerator.

The great thing was that the drive there was also part of the adventure, it was a part of the story; a part of her soul she wouldn’t mind sharing.

The music continued playing as Clarke sung at the top of her lungs. Her heart rate was now racing a million miles per hour as she was getting excited reaching ever so closer to her destination. The heaters inside the car were slightly blowing her blonde curls around in front of her face. She laughed, moving her hair around to her right shoulder where it could no longer hit her. She didn’t have long to go now, only a couple more hours.

The roads had all looked the same now for miles, all ice and fallen pieces of heaven, but a bright dot gradually growing bigger at the side of the road caught her eye. _What the hell is that?_ As she drove closer, she noticed that it was a person; sitting slumped with their head rested on both arms. When she reached them, she instantly stopped the car, turned down the music, and stared out at them with caution.

“What are you doing out here?” She asked, startling the stranger awake from what looked like a deep sleep.

“Um,” he replied groggily, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. “My friends thought it would be funny to leave me here. Turns out the joke is on me.”

Clarke looked at his sad eyes, and for a moment her heart turned to ice and shattered into millions of sharp blades on the ground. He looked exhausted as though he had been walking for miles and wound up here without the energy to carry on. Sure, her friends had played jokes on her before, but _nothing_ like this. She would have killed Lincoln or Wells if they had done something like this to her; he didn’t even look equipped to be sitting out here in the snow. He was chattering his teeth and she feared that in any second they all just might fall out, she had some experience in the art of stitching people up but there was nothing she could do in this situation.

“Where are your friends headed?”

“Up to the log cabins. They’re probably there by now,” he thought out loud.

“Well, it just so happens I’m headed up the mountains. I can drop you off once I’m done, if you like?” she offered with a warm smile.

“Are you serious? Thank you so much!” he exclaimed, jumped up off his feet, tried to wipe offthe snow that was now frozen to his gloves, and dived straight into the car—taking care to pick up the festive hat and prop it back down on his lap. “My name’s Bellamy, and yours?”

“I’m Clarke, It’s nice to meet you. Even if this is one of the weirdest ways I’ve ever met someone,” she added with a laugh that filled the whole car. Bellamy laughed, too, his eyes becoming soft as the car kicked into motion again.

For a while the both of them just sat content in each others company. Bellamy had made a joke about her hilarious sunglasses, and in return Clarke made a comment about his ridiculous Rudolf sweater. He quickly shut his mouth, the smart ass. She had offered him a bottle of water and he downed the whole thing within seconds, clearly dehydrated, but not enough that he was tempted to eat any snow. His friends hadn’t left him _any_ food or water, and it just so happens that his sister Octavia was the one to come up with the idea. Whatever happened to no one gets left behind?

Driving the rest of the way needed excellent concentration as it became slightly harder to see anything but a few feet ahead. The snow hit the jeep with a harder force, but Bellamy was proving to be a very good distraction. **  
**

“Why are you headed up to the mountains?” he asked curiously, breaking the silence between them.

“I’m a freelance photographer, I want to get a picture of the sunset coming down in between the mountains,” she replied easily as though she had pictured it in her mind a million times before.

“Wait, you’re gonna climb up a mountain? In the _snow_?”

“Hell yeah,” she shot back confidently. “Plus, I have boots in the back, and I’m not going that far up the mountain.”

“A photographer with confidence, I like it,” he joked back, a flirtatious tone to his voice. “But, why are you going all alone?”

Clarke turned to look at him then, his eyes searching her face for answers. His lip was pouted like an adorable new born puppy, with an abundance of freckles scattered across his rosy cheeks. His hair lay in a bundle of fluffy curls upon his head, which Clarke guessed was due to the dampness outside.

“I mostly go on these kind of trips alone. My friends usually get bored, though when I shared a dorm room with my old friend Raven she wouldn’t mind going on adventures with me. I haven’t seen her in a long time,” she added with a kind of fondness in her voice.

“Hey, that sounds like a girl I know called Raven Reyes. She's always going someplace when she's not fixing up something, she loves getting out and about.”

“Wait, you know Raven?” She replied back, confused as to how this all connects.

“Yeah! Her and Octavia are friends, she just finished her engineering course so she decided to come on this trip with us and the rest of the guys. She’s something alright,” he said in an almost sarcastic tone.

“Wow,” she spoke slowly, sounding genuinely stunned. “It’s a small world.”

Even though a storm was forming around the both of them on the outside, and the temperature was only bound to drop with the help of more white pellets; a world of calm unfolded on the inside.

Bellamy was a stranger (which she had to constantly remind herself of), but it didn’t feel that way. As soon as Clarke opened her arms and invited him in—weirdly, she felt like she was back at home, but she was actually further away. There was just something about him, he radiated and glowed with the essence of a spring morning. He smiled with a pure heart and sung along to Clarke’s favourite songs—they were his too—without seeming at all embarrassed. He was comfortable, but Clarke was home.

The mountains were just ahead of her, covered in multiple layers of beautiful snow as she squealed at Bellamy in excitement, who in return jokingly made fun of her for being so excited over snowy mountains.

But then she turned back to him, and realised that the true beauty was sat right beside her.

*

“Quick, help me get this stuff out of the boot. I don’t have much time,” she huffed, trying to pull on her boots.

“Are you sure those aren’t too small for you?” he joked in between lifting out the folded up tripod and a massive rucksack. “You know they do boots in bigger sizes.”

“Shut up,” she said with a laugh while jabbing him playfully in the arm. “I’ll take the backpack, and you grab the tripod.”

Bellamy did as he was told, and lifted the tripod with both hands and trailed after Clarke once she made sure the car was locked (not that anyone was out here to steal it anyway). She could hear him complaining behind her, practically trudging through the snow to keep up with her.

Once she found the perfect spot, she set the backpack down on the hard snow and started folding up her tripod. She mounted her camera on top and took a long time to get everything levelled up. Bellamy stood in awe as he watched Clarke do her thing, and secretly she found it very adorable.

The sunset was just in the right place; the composition was perfect, the exposure was spot on, but there was something missing.

“Hey, do you mind getting in front of the camera for a second?” Clarke asked, hoping that his answer would be yes.

“I just knew you found me attractive,” Bellamy boasted confidently as he let himself be positioned in the right spot in front of the camera.

Clarke tried a few different poses, but my god, did he look gorgeous. For someone she found just lying at the side of the road like a frozen popsicle, he still looked better than most of the models she’d worked with in the past. His jawline helped to shape his face and the dark, mysterious eyes, helped to capture his persona. He was so photogenic that she couldn’t resist smiling at her photographs. She captured him beautifully with the sun lighting the back of his head and shoulders, making Clarke look twice to check that he wasn’t a fallen angel sent to look after her.

“My dad died a few years ago, and I don’t get on with my mum. That’s why I’m out here alone. It’s my time to find me again, and I look for myself in nature,” she confessed in a whisper, the secret falling from her lips.

His expression changed too a look of _I know what you’re going through_ without having to say any words. Instead, his smile fell and Clarke captured the rawness of his emotions with one click. She moved to look at the photograph, and it was perfect, cracked slightly, but perfect.

Once the sun had finally died down and it was starting to get dark, Bellamy helped her carry the equipment back to the car.

They walked in sync beside each other; one second he was on his feet sidestepping at the same pace as her, and the next he was flat on his face—the laughter escaping from Clarke’s chapped lips as he fell into the ground. The sight of Bellamy covered in snow just made her giggle, and when he lifted his face, it was also smothered in snow with the rest of him. Some had gotten tangled in his curls, which he clearly wasn’t happy about.

“Here,” she said slowly still trying to contain her laughter as he scrunched up his face in the cutest way possible. “Take my hand.”

She held her hand outright for him to take, and he did. As soon as he was back on his feet Clarke wrapped him in her arms, giving him a hug that made the warmth radiate between the both of them. They stayed like that for a moment, as Clarke began taking in the sight of his bright red face and plump lips and curly snowy hair and—he broke away faster than they had joined together.

“So, did you get the picture you were after?” He asked, a big grin plastered across his face, as though nothing had just happened.

“Yeah, thanks to you. I’m going to need your email so I can send you the photos,” she told him, though instantly regretted it as she knew exactly what was coming next.

“My email? I’m pretty sure it’s phone numbers you ask for nowadays,” he replied arrogantly, holding back a few seconds before blurting into a fit of laughter at the sight of Clarke’s screwed up face. “Okay,” he said through bursts of laughter, “But you’re gonna have to get me back to that log cabin. I think there might be a way to get back at everyone. Especially my sister.”

“Get back at them?” She repeated, stopping in her tracks for a second. “Sure, I’m in.”

**Author's Note:**

> any comments would be appreciated, thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> you can find me on [tumblr!](http://ughbloodybellamy.tumblr.com)


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